SPECIAL DELIVERY
CABLE TRANSPORT
|
It s a well-established fact that successful companies have differentiated themselves. CommScope Inc. stands head and shoulders above the competition for two reasons.
The first is its product. The Catawba, North Carolina, company is a major manufacturer of coaxial cable for the cable television and cellular telephone industries. Many consider the company s products to be industry leaders.
|
Another major difference with CommScope is service. Trucks and trailers put the product exactly where customers want it.
Deliveries for many cable customers are usually in the field. This means job site personnel must unload and maneuver cable reels that weigh as much as 8,000 pounds. That takes experience and specialized equipment.
"There is no question that our trailers have played a role in getting moremarket share," says transportation president Larry Carrigan.
CommScope, and its private fleet, Cable Transport, make this process easy for customers. More than 115 of the fleet’s 234 trailers are equipped with cranes installed in the vans. Made by Cargo Master, Cedar Falls, Iowa, these cranes have 2,000 and 8,000 pound capacities. The driver simply hooks onto a reel and sets it on the ground using a handheld control.
"There is no question that our trailers have played a role in getting more market share," says Cable Transport Transportation President Larry Carrigan. "Our customers really appreciate it that we can unload with the cranes. This is very different from what the competition does."
MAXIMIZE PAYLOADS
| |
The unwieldy nature of cable reels makes it difficult to load freight vans to their maximum weight capacity The reels are simply too difficult and too heavy to unload by hand if the trailer is full. Most manufacturers without cranes are only able to load trailers half full to facilitate delivery. However, with its cranes, Cable Transport can stack reels all the way to the roof.
"It can take four to six people to unload an 800-pound cable reel," Carrigan says. "Even with a forklift, unloading can be difficult. With our cranes, the driver can unload unassisted along the roadside or in a vacant lot. Our customers demand their product comes in on our trailers because they have no way to unload. We also give excellent service. We deliver LTL shipments to the West Coast consistently in two-days."
Cable Transport’s freight vans are 48-foot Great Danes with a 2-inch wedge built in to provide a rear door opening height equal to the trailer inside height at the front. Crossmembers are on 12 inch centers the entire length and side posts from the front to the rear of the landing gear bracing are Great Dane s standard 12-inches. From there to the rear of the trailer, they are on 16-inch centers instead of the standard 24 inches to accommodate crane installation and operation.
"Our trailer floors have the thicker 1 1/2-inch floor boards," Carrigan says. "In addition, we need a very narrow rear header. This provides a taller opening in the rear and more work area for the crane. When we started using cranes, the only manufacturer that could give me a narrow rear header was Great Dane. We still have a few 1981 and 1982 model Great Danes in our fleet.
"We like Great Dane trailers and have had good success with them," he continues. “We want a trailer we can bolt or weld anything onto and put it right into the fleet. Great Dane's quality is excellent. Any time I've had any problems, and over the years there have been very few, they stand behind their product."
ACTIVE PRIVATE FLEET
Make no mistake Cable Transport is a private fleet with 88 tractors and 234 trailers, it is also a good-sized trucking company. There are manufacturing plants in several locations in the Southeast and a distribution center in California. The fleet delivers 150 to 160 loads a week domestically, and there are at least a dozen daily container shipments for export. Also, the fleet handles 100 weekly truckload shipments of raw materials into Catawba.
“We haul 80 percent of everything CommScope ships," Carrigan says. “The other 20 percent is given to LTL carriers. We have runs into the Maritime Provinces and British Columbia, where our product has to be delivered at a job-site on the ground. Since we only go to many locations four or five times a year, it’s very hard to develop good relationships for back-hauls. Still, our empty miles are only about 13 percent."
A high tractor/trailer ratio is necessary because of raw material deliveries. Extra trailers are needed at each manufacturing location to facilitate drop and hook runs. About hail the fleet is made up of teams.
Cable loads average 35,000 to 38,000 pounds, but can weigh as much as 45,000 pounds. Single shipment loads make up about 60 percent of Cable Transport s runs. An average trip is more than 2,000 miles, and major traffic lanes are into Florida, Texas, California, Oregon, New York and Illinois.
FLEET BEGAN IN 1976
Cable Transport began in 1976 with three tractors and six trailers.
"A private fleet gives us control," Carrigan says. “Timely delivery of inbound raw materials is very important. Our plants operate around the clock except for Christmas and July 4. On Friday, trailers arrive with inbound materials. We must unload and reload for Sunday dispatch."
Cable Transport operates like a trucking company. Operating cost and revenue figures are closely tracked, and that has a bearing on trailer and truck selection.
"We re very particular about our equipment," Carrigan says. "We don t jump around from brand to brand or supplier to supplier. We re 100 percent Great Dane, Freightliner, Rockwell, Bridgestone and Caterpillar. Parts availability is crucial because tractors and trailers can t have downtime. We want all our inventories to be low."
The commitment to quality equipment and a strict maintenance program results in a damage ratio that is practically nil. "That is very critical to CommScope," Carrigan says, "because coaxial cable is so expensive. For example, if there is a 2,500-foot reel and there is damage 600 feet into it, most of the time that reel is scrap. Cable operators don t want to splice cable."
There are other benefits from striving to be a quality operation. Cable Transport recently won the National Private Truck Carrier Council safety award. Running more than 14 million miles a year, the fleet s chargeable accidents are negligible.
"A good safety program is about communicating with employees," Carrigan says. "We offer a safety bonus program, and our turnover is essentially nonexistent. Most drivers have been with us a long time and several have even retired from the company. We have been growing every year in a controlled fashion, making sure nothing diminishes our quality of service."
|
|
